Automatic electric toaster



June 2, 1942. H. M. BIEBEL 2,

AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC TOASTER Filed April 10, 1941 3 Shee'ts-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY.

June 2, 1942. H. M. BIEBEL AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC TOASTER Filed April 10, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. HERMAN B/EBEL ATTORNEY.

June 2, 1942. H. M. BIEBEL AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC TOASTER ,Filed April 10, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 py IN VENTOR file-EM NB/EBEL.

Patented June 2, 1942 2,285,141 AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC ToAs'rEn Herman M. Biebel, Elgln, 111., asslgnor to Mc- Graw Electric Company, Elgin, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application April 10,1941, Serial No. 387,852

' Claims. (01. 219-19) My invention relates to electric cooking devices and particularly to plural-slice automatic electric toasters.

An object of my invention is to provide a twoslice electric toaster with means to ensure proper toasting of a single slice of bread at one time.

Another object of my invention is to provide a two-slice automatic electric toaster with means whereby a single slice of bread may be toasted at one time with attendant reduction in the amount of electric energy translated into heat for such toasting operation.

Fig. 11 is a diagram of electric connections of a two-slice toaster when the part are in nontoasting position as shown in Figs. 1, 4, 5 and 7,

Fig. 12 is a diagram of connections similar to .Figs. 11 except with the parts shown in position for toasting a single slice of bread only as shown in Figs. 2, 6 and 8, and,

Another object of my invention is to provide a two-slice toaster having two bread carriers movable in their toasting chambers and having means for moving either a given bread carrier or both bread carriers in accordance with the number of slices of bread to be toasted simultaneously.

Other objects of my invention will either be apparent from a description of a form of device embodying my invention now preferred by me or will be specifically pointed out in the course of such descrlption and set forth in the appended claims.

In the drawings,

Figure 1-is a longitudinal vertical sectional view taken on the line l| of Fig. 4 through-a toaster embodying my invention and showing the parts in non-toasting position, Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 1 r

showing certain parts in position when one slice of bread only is to be toasted,

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view taken on the line 33 of Fig.1, Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view on the line l4 of Fig. 1 showing parts in non-toasting po-p sition,

Fig. 5' is a vertical fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 5 except that the parts are shown in the positions ready for toasting a single slice of bread,

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary view showing the split interlocking operating knobs in their non-toasting position,-

Fig. 8- shows the knobs of Fig. 7 in non--interlocked position as when toasting a single slice of I bread,

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary verticallateral section on the line 9,-9 of Fig. 1 showing the relative position of certain parts of the toaster in their normal or non-operative position,

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary sectional view on the line I0l0-of Fig. 4 to show the timer rack and pinion,

Fig. 13 is a diagram of connections similar to Fig. 11 except that the parts are shown in position for toasting two slices of bread simultaneously. v My invention is shown as applied to a substantially standard two-slice toaster H which includes a skeleton base frame 23 which may be made of moulded composition and which has a bottom plate 25 of thin sheet metal resting thereon and secured thereto in any desired suitable manner. The toaster includes an outer casing comprising a central portion 21 of substantially inverted U- shape and made of thin sheet metal as well as two side casing portions29 and 3|. While I have shown details of construction of the toaster base and outer casing, I do not desire to be limited thereto since'they constitute no part of my invention.

I prefer to provide a plurality of planar vertical electric heating elements, two in number for each slice of bread to be toasted, and I have thereelectric-insulating material may be held in properly spaced operative position by any means well known in the art and I may provide an upper or top frame plate or a plurality of such frame plates to hold the upper"edges of the respective heating elements. I provide further a rear intermediate wall 41 and a front intermediate wall 49 having their top edges properly interfltted with the top frame plate 45 and cooperating with the hereinbefore described planar heating elements to provide as many toastin chambers as may be desired, the;number o such toasting chambers corresponding to the number of pairsofheating elements. Guard wires 50 may be 7 provided in a manner well known in the art.

The central portion 21 of the outer casing may be provided with bread-inserting and toastremoving apertures 5I to permit of inserting a slice or slices of bread into the toaster or of removing them therefrom when toasted.

I' provide further a pair of bread carriers 53 and 55 positioned respectively in the righthand toasting chamber and in the left-hand toasting chamber. rear and front portions extending through and movable' ein slots in the rear intermediate plate .and the front intermediate plate, all as well known in the art.

, The two bread carriers are normally yieldingly biased into upper or non-toasting position by a tension spring 51 which may have its upper end connected with a bracket member 59 and its lower end connected to a member to be hereinafter described in detail.

Means for permitting vertical movement of .the bread carriers as required to toast a slice or slices of bread include a plurality of vertical standards, there being two pairs of such vertical standards 50 and GI positioned in front of a second pair of vertical standards 63 and 55. J These standards may have their lower ends properly interfitting with the bottom plate 25 and may have their upperends interfitting with the bracket 59' hereinbefore mentioned. The front pair of vertical standards 50 and BI have vertically movably mounted thereon a pair of- U-shaped members Iiland 59. members have substantially horizontally extend ing portions having apertures therein to permit of mounting them on the vertical standards 50 and BI, the relative position of these two members on the vertical standards being such that member 59 may be moved downwardly from its normal upper position without moving the member 61, as may be desired under certain operating conditions.

Means for causing movement of either member These bread carriers have 9I' adapted to extend under the lower horizontal portion of member 59 hereinbefore described so that downward movement of member 69 as by pressure of an operator on knob 15 will also cause downward movement of carriage 89 and the right-hand carrier 53 secured there- I provide a second carriage plate 93 having a plurality of upper and lower forwardly extending portions having apertures therein'for mounting the carriage 93 on the pair of vertical standards 63 and 55 to permit of vertical'movement of the carriage on the standards. Carriage 93 is provided with a rearwardly extending portion ,95 to which the front end portion of the lefthand carrier 55 is secured so that movement of carriage 93, under certain operatin conditions, will cause simultaneous movement of left-hand carrier 55.

Left-hand bread carrier 55 is normally held in its upper nontoasting position by the action of a hook member 91 (see Figs. 1 and 2) pivotally mounted on the front end portion of carrier 55 and normally yieldingly biased into a position to engage with a projection 99 secured to the front intermediate wall 49, the arm 91 being normally yieldingly biased into its position These U-shaped 59 alone or of both members 51 and 59 simultaneously include a forwardly extending projection II secured to member 59 and a similar forwardly extendingprojection 13 secured to member 61 and positioned at the left of member II relatively adjacent thereto, both members II and I3 extending outwardly through slots in the central casing portion 21 at its front part. Projection 'II has a knob 15- secured thereto outside of the casing and projection -'I3 has a knob 'll mounted thereon outside of the basing, the shape of these two knobs being such that normally they are interlocked with each other by reason of the fact that the left-hand knob 11 has a lug 19 at its top extending laterally-and to the right thereof to interfit with a recess 8| in knob 15, all as may be seen by reference to Figs. 7 and 8. Pressure by an operators finger 83 on either the right-hand knob I5 or the left-hand knob II will 4 carriage plate 99 having upper and lower rearwardly projecting portions having apertures therein whereby they may be mounted on and moved vertically relatively tothe rear pair of standards 53 and 65. Carriage 89 is provided also with a pair of forwardly projecting portions 5 by a light spring I25,

in a counter-clockwise direction by a short tension spring IllI having one end thereof connected to a lower end portion while the other end of spring IIII is connected to a lug I03 constituting a part of rear carriage 93- and located thereon at its lower left-hand corner portion.

1 provide a mechanical tim'er IIII of the kind disclosed and claimed in Ireland Patent No. 1,866,808 to which reference may be made for details of construction and operation thereof and this timer may be held in proper operative position by a bracket I05 secured to the front intermediate wall 49. l 1

Certain of the drawings, suchas Figs. 1 and 2, do not show certain details for which reference may be had to Fig. 10 of the drawings. The timer I04 includes a clock spring III'I mounted on an arbor I09 which also has a pinion III fixedly mounted thereon. This pinion is adapted to mesh with a rack bar II3 vertically movable relativelyto the timer and the pinion III, it being movable downwardly by means to be here-.

and being movable vertically upwardly upon unwinding of said spring during'operation of the toaster. The rack bar 3 is held in mesh with pinion III by a grooved roller II5. A pin III is secured to the lower end ofrack bar II3 which lower end may move in a track or guide -I I9 of substantially channel shape in lateral section, as desired. v J 17 The timer is provided also, with a detent lever I2I pivotally mounted at one'side of the timer structure, this detent lever having a pin or lug I23 at its upper end and being normally yieldingly biased in a counter-clockwise direction 4 all as now well known in the art.

The forward carriage 39 is provided with a right-hand projection I21 adapted to fit underneath the lower end of detent lever III to thereby hold either the right-hand bread carrier 53 in toasting position or to hold both bread carriers in toasting position during a toasting operation.

The right-hand member 59 of U-shape is provided with a member I29 secured thereto as shown more particularly in Fig. 4 of the draw- U-shape, has a recess I3I therein at its bottom- -portion into which pin II1 on the lower end of rack bar H3 is adapted to fit whereby downward movement of member 69 and member I29 will cause downward movement of the rack and winding up of the timer spring I01. Member I29 is providedalso with an angularly extending upper surface I33 adapted to engage pin I23 on the upper end of lever arm I2I whereby to cause releasing turning movement of detent lever arm I2I, all as now well known in the art. Thus if the operator presses downwardly on knob '15, member 69 and member I29 secured thereto will be moved downwardly with attendant winding up of the mechanical timer I94, carriage 89 and the right-hand carrier 53 being also moved downwardly simultaneously to move the bread carrier from its normal non-toasting position into its toastingposition. As soon as the operator'releases his pressure on knob 15 after having pressed carriage 89 downwardly-far enough to cause projection I21 to engage with the lower end portion'of the detent lever arm I2I, the spring I01 will be permitted to unwind with attendant slow upward movement of the rack bar II3, the pin II1 thereoncausing simultaneous upward movement of members 69 and E29 and the knob 15 until at the end of a toasting operation, the length of which is determined by the timer I04, the detent lever arm I2! is moved to release the carriage 89 from its lower position with quick upward return thereof by reason of the spring 51.

Let it now be assumed that the operator desires to toast two slices of bread simultaneously,

in which case he will press upon knob 11 caussecured to the carriages 89 and 93. This will therefore cause movement of both bread carriers into toasting position. I

I have found that heating elements 33 and'39 must have a slightly greater wattage capacity than the inner heating elements 35 and 31 in those cases where twoslices of 'bread are to be toasted simultaneously. However, when a single the right-hand toasting chamber enclosing car- Member 51 is pro- The first result of v slice of bread is to be toasted alone as, say, in

rier 53, I find that the wattage of heater 31 must be slightly increased in order to compensate forthe heat normally provided by adjacent inner heater 35. For this purpose I make 31 in two sections so connected that when two slices of bread are toasted, an auxiliary small portion I39 is in electric energizing circuit but is out out when a single slice of bread only is toasted.

In order to control the energization of righthand inner heater 31 and of the pair of heaters 33 and 35, I rovide a main switch including fixed contac ember MI and a contact bridging member I43 as well as an auxiliary heater control switch I45. Contact members l 4I are insulatedly mounted on bottom plate 25 and contact bridging member I43 is also supported on bottom plate 25 but normally biased out of engageative in' either case.

carriage B9 and projecting therefrom at its lefthand side. It is thus evident that the main heater control switch including members I. and I43 will be closed by downward movement of knob 15 when one slice f bread is to be toasted.

Auxiliary heater control switch I45 includes a contact arm I49 normally yieldingly biased into engagement with a fixed contact member I5I but adapted to be moved out of engagement with said contact and downwardly into engagement with a lower contact member I 53, contact arm I49 and contact members I5I and I53 being insulatedly mounted on and adjacent to the bottom face of plate 25. Means for operatively engaging contact arm I49 includes a depending bar I55 secured to left-hand carrier 55. It is thus evident that when only a single carrier, namely the right-hand carrier 53, is moved downwardly, the auxiliary heater control switch I45 will remain in the position shown in Figs. 11 and 12 where, as shown by the diagram of connections in these figures, the left-hand pair of toast heating elements 33 and 35 will not be energized and the auxiliary heater portion I39 of the inner heater 31 will also not be energized whereby a slice of bread positioned on the right-hand carrier 53 as'shown by the broken lines I51 (see Fig. 123 to indicate a slice of bread, will have both sides toasted to the same degree of brownness.

However, when two slices of bread as shown in Fig. 13 have been placed upon the two carriers, which have been moveddownwardly into toasting position as hereinbefore described, member I55 will have engaged contact arm I49 with attendant downward movement thereof into engagement with contact I53 whereby, as shown by the diagram of Fig. 13, all of the toast heating elements 33, 35, 31 and 39 will be energized, it being noted that auxiliary section I39 of heater 31 is also energized.

The device embodying my invention thus provides relatively simple means including more particularly two interlocked actuating knobs on the outside of a toaster casing whereby an operator can cause energization of only those heaters operatively associated with a certain bread carrier to cause proper toasting of the two sides of a single slice of bread or by downward movement of a second actuating knob interlocked with the first actuating knobhe may cause downward movement of both bread carriers with attendant change'in electrical circuit connections to cause proper toasting of both sides of both slices of bread, it being understood that the timer determining the length of a toasting operation is oper- While I have shown a mechanical timer, it is to be understood that any other timer may be used in place thereof.

While I have shown a specific embodiment of my invention, I desire it to be understood that all modifications thereof coming clearly within the scope of the appended claims shall be considered to be covered thereby.

I claim as, my invention:

1. In a two-slice automatic electric toaster position, means for selectivelymoving said first carrier alone or both carriers into toasting position, a normally open main heater switch controlling all of said toast heating elements, means for causing closing of said main heater switch when said first carrier is moved into' toasting position, an auxiliary switch controlling the energization of less than all of said toastrheating elements and normally yieldingly biased into position to prevent energization of the toast heating elements for the second carrier when the main switch is closed, and means on said second carrier to cause movement of said auxiliary switch into another position to cause energization of the heating elements for the second carrier when both said carriers are simultaneously moved into toasting position and said main switch is closed by said first carrier.

2. A two-slice automatic electric toaster comprising electric toastheating elements, a first and a second bread carrier movable into toasting and' non-toasting positions relatively to the toast heating elements and biased into non-toasting position, a main switch controlling all of said toast heating elements normally biased into open position, an auxiliary switch controlling the heating elements associated with the second carrier and normally yieldingly biased into position to prevent the energization of the heating elements associated with the second carrier, means on said carriers to selectively cause movement oi said first carrier alone or both said carriers simultaneously into toasting positiommovement of said first carrier alone into toastingposition causing closing of said main switch and the retention of its normal position by the auxiliary switch and simultaneous movement of bothcarriers' into toasting position ment of said auxiliary switch to a position to cause energization of the heating elements associated with the second carrier.

3. In a two-slice automatic toaster comprising toast heating elements, a first and a second bread carrier unattached to each other, movable into toasting and non-toasting positions relatively to the toast/heating elementsand normally yieldingly biased into non-toasting position, a main ,switch controlling the energization of all said heating elements and normally yieldingly biased .into open position, the improvement comprising means on each of said carriers to cause movement thereof into toasting position, pressure on the means on said ,fir'st carrier causing movement of said first carrier only and pressure on the means 1 on said second carrier causing movement of both said carriers, an auxiliary switch controlling less than all of said-heating elements and normally yieldingly biased into position to deenergize certain of said heating elements, downward movement of said first carrier causing closing of said main switch and energization of only those heat-- ing elements required to properly toast a slice of bread on said first carrier and downward moveadapted to be controlled by said carriers when the latter are moved into toasting position, a first and a second knob interengaged with each other and connected respectively with said first and said second carrier, downward pressure on said first knob causing downward movement of said first knob and carrier, movement of said first switch only and energization of the toast heating elements for said first carrier and slice of bread and pressure on said second knob causing down ward movement of both knobs and carriers and movement of both switches into respective positions to cause energization of the toast heating elements for both slices of bread and carriers.

5. An automatic electric two-slice toaster comprising toast heating elements for each of said slices, a first and a second bread carrier unattached to each other movable into toasting and non-toasting positions relatively to the toast heating elements and normally yieldingly biased into non-toasting position, latch means normally causing closing of said main switch and moveholding said second carrier in non-toasting position, a first carriage connected with said first carrier, a second carriage connected with said second carrier and having means thereon to. re-

lease said latch. means, an actuating knob on each of said carriages, a normally open main switch and an auxiliary switch" controlling said toast heating elements and electric connections between said switches and said toast heating elements to cause downward pressure on the knob mounted on said first carriage to effect downward movement of said first carrier alone, closure of said main switch and retention of the auxiliaryswitch in position to cause energization of the toast heating elements onlyforsaid first bread carrier and to cause downward pressure on the knob mounted on the second carrier to efl'ect simultaneous downward movement of both carriers; closure of said main switch and movement of the auxiliary switch into position to cause energization of all of said toast heating elements.

HERMAN'M. BlEBEL. 

